


Caves, Craters and Constellations

by one_elderflower_cordial_please



Category: Anne of Green Gables, Anne with an E, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: But its worth it, F/M, Fluff, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, a bit of angst, fuck now I have to think up a name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 17:03:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16499291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/one_elderflower_cordial_please/pseuds/one_elderflower_cordial_please
Summary: Going down to the beach was Bash’s idea. Taking food was Marilla’s. Going seashell hunting was Gilbert's. Exploring the cave was Anne’s. Exactly why Gilbert let himself be lead into the cave he didn’t know, but they were now a few hundred meters in, and the light was already dimming...Or: Gilbert is in love, Anne is oblivious. Anne is in love, Gilbert is oblivious. Add a pinch of stardust, a little bit of darkness and whoops-a-daisy now they're kissing ;)





	Caves, Craters and Constellations

**Author's Note:**

> These characters belong to Lucy Maud Montgomery and Moira Walley-Beckett.  
> I'm just borrowing them for the evening ;)

Going down to the beach was Bash’s idea. Taking food was Marilla’s. Going seashell hunting was Gilberts. Exploring the cave was Anne’s. Exactly why Gilbert let himself be lead into the cave he didn’t know, but they were now a few hundred meters in, and Gilbert was beginning to feel uneasy. He could no longer see Anne up ahead. He could barely see his own hands in the darkness.

“Anne?”

He strained his eyes to see the stone walls surrounding him, and tried to catch a glimpse of the red head, bounding along in front.

“Hurry up, Gilbert! I think I can hear something up ahead.”

The boy struggled to keep up. “What kind of thing?” He tried very hard to mask the fear in his voice. The footsteps ahead of him stopped, and in the sudden silence he heard a soft trickling, like there was an underground stream nearby.

“A magical thing.”

With that, the clunk of Annes boots reached Gilberts ears again, but this time they were faster. More sure. Gilbert felt Annes presence get further away as she sped off in front of him, and his chest began to feel tight.

“Anne!” His heart was hammering, and his legs and arms felt shaky and tense as his body gave him a rush of adrenaline. Gilbert had never liked small spaces. His travels on the trading ship had only reinforced this fear. The hot, stuffy, dark engine rooms had almost killed him, the fear that at any moment water could come rushing in. And the space would be too small. It was the size of a cupboard. The caves stone ceiling was shrinking in above him, he felt dizzy and sick and—

“Gilbert?”

He was vaguely aware of something cold and hard pressed against his cheek. And something fuzzy was in front of him. It looked like…a shoe?

“Gil, are you okay?”

Soft fingers were brushing the hair out of his hazel eyes, his mind was becoming less fuzzy, his thoughts piecing together like a puzzle.

“Hey. Do you think you can walk?”

Gilbert considered this from where he lay on the floor.

“I don’t know.”

Annes hand was dangling in front of his face, palm out and so open. He wanted to trace the creases on it, wanted it so badly.

Annes voice had gone down to a whisper, and only now did Gilbert realise that her voice was shaking ever so slightly. Poor girl. He had fainted in the middle of a dark, deserted tunnel, she must have been so scared.

“I’ve looked you over. I don’t think anythings broken, which is a miracle, but the only way we can know for sure is if we get you out of this cave…and I’m not sure…” Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

“What?”

“I’m not sure if anyones still on the beach.”

The boy thought this over for a second.

“How long have I been unconscious?”

Anne was idly twisting his curls around her little finger, and it must have been a sign of how out of it she was. Anne would never normally stay this close. Anne would never normally let her fingers brush his forehead, even by accident. Gilbert savoured every second of it.

“Anne?”

She blinked. “Oh! Um, I don’t really know.” Twist, twist, twist.

“A while.”

She was so scared. And that was why Gilbert pushed himself up so he was standing, leaning heavily against the hard wall, swaying very slightly, but he was up. Annes shriek of “careful!!” sounded so much like Marilla that he huffed out a laugh. It could have been mistaken for a shaky breath by anyone who didn’t know Gilbert.

“That wasn’t funny. At all. You should have asked me for help! … Are you okay?”

Her voice sounded strict, but the edges were pulled up. She was smiling. So Gilbert smiled too.

“Do you remember which way it is?”

“Yeah. I had to learn how to find my way around in the dark all the time when I lived with—“

Her voice went very quiet, the with trailing off so it was just a whisper, not even that.

“Anne?”

SIlence.

“Anne? Anne, are you alright?”

Her voice was so quiet. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

The boy wracked his brains to think of something to say that could be comforting. The silence made him uncomfortable. Nothing about Anne was quiet, normally. This thing she was remembering, this didn’t fit Anne. It was a silent circle of trees in the wood. It made Gilberts ears ring in a horrible way.

“Should we head off, then?”

“Yeah. Yes, that sounds good. That sounds fine. Lovely.”

Why did she sound so hollow? Without really thinking, the boy reached out his pale hand and found Annes. He brushed it gently, _can I…?_ When she didn’t pull away, he took it as a _Yes,_ and looped his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers. A small shudder passed from Annes hand up her arm and into her chest. It seemed to shake her back into herself, she glanced at their hands, hanging in darkness between them. They both stood there, each contemplating what this could mean, then Gilbert felt Annes hand pull forward slightly, and knew she was on the move. Their joined hands were like a link. A connection much deeper than just skin against skin. Sharing something other than warmth. It was like he could feel Anne. Her confidence flowed through him, and he wan’t scared. Even when they passed through a part where the ceiling curved downwards, so they both had to stoop over to get through.

“I don’t remember passing underneath that on the way in.”

The silence was so complete, and had been stretching on for so long, that Anne actually jumped when Gilbert spoke, even though his voice was just barely louder than a whisper. 

“No, no I don’t remember it either.”

Was it his imagination, or did Anne’s voice sound squeakier than before? It definitely wasn’t this high when when he was sprawled out on the floor, or when they had first walked into this cursed cave. Which meant … he felt a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Then it grew bigger, and bigger, until it had taken over his face completely. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing, but it was no use. It bubbled up from somewhere deep down in his chest, and spilled out into the tunnel. To Anne, the sound was beautiful. Laughter. His laughter. When mere hours ago he had been close to tears. The low, sweet sound, like waves crashing on the beach. She stopped abruptly, and Gilbert knew why.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh, I just … I realised—“ He was interrupted by a quiet hush from Anne, and for a second he was shocked, before he felt it too. There was a slight breeze coming from further up the tunnel, and a vague “swoosh” sound that Gilbert realised must be the ocean.

Now he was the one pulling Anne along. He kept a tight hold of her hand as he dragged her forward, breaking into a run as he rounded a corner and saw pale white light spilling through a small archway up ahead. A few steps more, and he was out.

He was so relieved that he let go of Annes hand and fell to his knees on the damp sand, feeling the wind cool his forehead and breathing in the fresh, sharp air.

He turned back to the girl with the flaming hair, and there she was. Standing there. Framed by the dark tunnel, looking out toward the sea, her skin catching the moonlight. Every single freckle stood out. He wanted to trace the constellations written on her cheeks. For a while, neither of them said anything at all, and then,

“Hey,” It was hushed. Reverent.

“Hey.”

“Let me show you something.”

He walked over to a dry patch of sand and lay down. A few seconds later, she sat down beside him, an arms length away, but that didn’t matter. He pointed up at the specks of light in the sky. “Do you see that one?”

“Hm?”

“Look up.”

Annes head tilted back slightly, her hair spilling down her back. “What am I looking for?”

“Do you see the moon?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Now look to the left. You see a long line of stars, right?” Anne hummed in reply.

“It’s kind of wiggly?” Her voice is slightly frayed around the edges.

“Right. That’s called Draco.”

“Dragon.”

“Yeah.”

A full minute of silence as Anne contemplates the information.

“So … are the stars all called Draco?”

“Mmm, not exactly. They each have their own names. And they’re all very far apart, really. But because of where we are, they align to look like a dragon … sort of.”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of, sort of, sort of … and did you know that the moon is covered in craters?”

“Craters?”

“Yeah,” He sits up quickly and turns to face Anne, his face lighting up. She smiles.

“So, you know there are things called asteroids, right? They’re big chunks of rock that move through space, and when they come too near to Earth, they burn up, which is why we have shooting stars—“

“Don’t say that!” She’s shaking her head.

“What? Why not?”

“You’ll ruin the magic.”

“But this is exactly why they’re magical! Space is a big, big, _big_ place, our world is so small compared to it. If you think about it, it’s a miracle that an asteroid, in all that space, finds us. Every shooting star you see has travelled millions of miles to get here. It’s a chance in a billion.”

She takes a breath. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Wow is right.”

The silence that stretches between them is a comfortable one. Every once in a while Gilbert looks over at Anne, and every time she’s staring up at the stars, her eyes sparkling with wonder. And every time Gilbert looks away, Anne looks at him with those same eyes, and that same wonder, though he doesn’t see.

“Craters.” She says.

“Excuse me?”

“You were talking about the craters on the moon.” She turns halfway to face him, and rests her small, sharp face in her palm, which is propped on her knee.

“Oh. Yeah, so, craters are basically holes that are made when an asteroid hits something bigger than itself. Like when you drop something” he lifts up a small rock and drops it onto the sand. “all the sand moves to the sides to make room for the object. And because it’s going so fast, the holes are normally very big and deep.”

“And the moon has lots of them?”

“Hundreds.”

“Why?”

Gilbert thinks about this for a moment.

“I’m not sure, really. I don’t think the moon ever stops to think about that. It just does.”

He wonders whether he’s brave enough to say what he wants to say, and decides that if he can walk through a cramped cave for hours, he can at least say whats on his mind.

“It’s sort of like you.”

She frowns at him.

“What is?”

Gilbert swallows thickly, but ploughs ahead.

“The moon.”

Anne smiles slightly but shakes her head. “The moon is beautiful.”

“And?” In his head, Gilbert sounds almost indignant. He doesn’t care. He likes it, actually.

“And I’m …” She gestures at her fiery hair and her starry face.

Gilbert takes a deep breath.

“The moon has craters. And so do you. The moon has holes and spots and bruises. And so do you. The moon keeps shining, anyway. She,” he swallows again. “She shows off her craters. Because they prove that, despite everything, she’s still there. She still shines. And so do you.”

He scrunches his eyes closed, and waits. Waits for the scoff or the laugh. It is agonising. But then he feels something soft pressing against the side of his arm. Can feel the heat, even through the jumper he’s wearing. He keeps his eyes closed. Then, a tap against the top of his ear, and he feels a puff of breath on his earlobe. _Thankyou._ He turns quickly to make sure he’s heard right, and suddenly, too quickly, he’s staring straight at her. Her nose is an inch away from his. And her eyes. Her eyes that are so many colours. The sea on a calm day. The sky on a stormy one. The clouds and the air and the rain after snow. And he’s tracing her freckles. _Draco, Leo, Hydra._ He follows Sagittarius right down to the top of her lip. And then he leans forwards. Theres that feeling he can never describe. Hot and cold and comfy all at once. And he knows, he knows, that this was a good idea.

Above them, the stars wink.

A shooting star streaks across the inky darkness.

And the moon?

She just smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading all the way through! You're the best <3  
> If you want to, kudos and comments are always appreciated.  
> If you liked it, tell your friends! If you didn't like it ... tell your friends! 
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr @freckles-and-moonlight, send a message if you want, etc etc
> 
> Have a lovely day! And if you're reading this at 3 in the morning ... this is the sign you've been waiting for. Get some beauty sleep <3


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